Daily Republican., 1887-04-12
REMARKABLs sUoOsss,

~ was In the year 1888 that the Dis
Ton family arrived In PHILADELPHIA
from the old country. In three day
the father lay corpse. The children
brother and sister, were left alone in
strange land. Henry Disston was
BOY OF IA years. He saw an openinl
with a saw making firm, to which h,
apprenticed himself. 1t is said tina
the appreciation of his employer wa
sometimes expressed In tools of tn,
trade-rewards of merit very accepta
Die to the ambitious but poor yount
mechanic
The boy worked hard and saved q
little money. His employers being
unable to pay him a small amount Of
pack wages, he accepted from them a
lot OF brick trowels, and managed to
turn them into cash. He had in all
about $3.50. With this sum, in hi,
ga year, A. ID. 1s43, he dared to start
Disston's Keystone Saw Works, in a
cellar in the neighborhood of Second
and Arch. This starting point is some
times referred to rs basement. We
doubt whether Henry Disston was
ever heard to call 1t by any other
name tina, cellar. He used TO tell how
ne built his own furnace, and trundled
his first wheelbarrow load of coal from
Willow street wharf to "ths works ,
In the beginning the founder of the
Keystone Saw Works ran the whole
BUSH ess without assistance. He made
his own tools. When his saws wers
ready for the market he took them out
and offered them. Henry Disston be
lieved in his saws, but the public
didn't, and the young sawmaker had
to take many a hard knock before the
public would bclisvc that an Ameri-
can saw could be anything more than
base imitation of the English article
lie encountered blind prejudice on
every hand, but he never slackened
his endeavor. He did what he could
to add fine finish to sterling quality
lie sold many saw at an advance of
one per cent. on its cost. Induced to
take a room in factory at Front and
Laurel streets, 1t was not long before
his effects were levied on for the rent
of the building. Henry Disston owed
nothing, bit he was in sub-tenants
unhappy plight and had to suffer.
Mstortunes multiplied. Domestic
afflction came. Work had to be sus- |
pended for the tender offices of the
sick room. DR.. Thomas Ingraham, an |
old and good friend, instead of pre-
senting a bill for professional services, |
insisted that the struggling mechanic
should accept a small loan-paid back |
with abundant increase. A new lan1-
lord took the building which the sher.
III had raided, and Mr.. Di.ston re-
sumed operations
This move, made in the opening |
year of the Mexican war, had the most
important effect ON Henry Disston's
fortunes, and the future of the saw
Trade in America. He had planted
himself on the present site of the main
works. He had borrowed two hun
ired dollars to enable him to branch
out little, and now he was more del
.ermined than ever 10 succeed I'll
was risking money not my own" hel
said, in after years. land l Couldn't
siiord to fail. | had to make the sawsI
go. About this time the boiler in
he building took it into its perverse
lcad to explode, and Henry DisstonI
came very near exploding with it. Hell,
was Knocked several feet and stunned,
)ut gathered his wits together whenl
he found that he was burned out. It'll
low occurred to him that rented
is not the best thing Tor al
manufacturing establishment. Hell,
must have formed his plans very rap
dly, for within ten days he had
moved into his new building, four! =,
tories high, thirty by sixty, erected I
IN the lot adjoining the burned dis IL
riot. He had come to Front and =
-aurel streets to stay. In 1864 the
business had grown to $50, 900 all
month. Fire again and all was waste.
The workmen, suddenly cut off from :
heir employment, gathered about the | I
ulns. The employer was there, too, I
nd he put his men to work clearing
way the wreck while the bricks We're /
ot. In fifteen days Disston saws Il
we're being made under an improy.sed e
oof of canvas. Substantial buildings
'erc erected, and the productive ca
acity doubled. From this time on, (,
marvellous growth, wealth and fame.
wenty square feet for the first shop, liz
he establishment at Front and LAUREL III
lis up eight acres. From here ills
caches out nine miles beyond-butl t
ill in Philadelphia-and spreads @
gain at Tacony.
1t occurred to him it was FOLLY to
nport English steel. He resolved to :,
i'm his scraps into steel in his own n
Establishment, and to. day the making
steel is considerable part of the lii
lsiness. lie encouraged his men to q
SC their brains for the improvements
old tools and the devisng of new, B
I'd he paid them literally for their g
eas. u
Henry Disston, always looking to ID
re future, laid his foundations deepI. n,
I'd strong. He knew that he could q
1t live forever, and he wound his es n,
blishment up to run. He knew that 81
70 best executive management would M
il without skilled hands, and these lal
, resolved to have, and to leave be b
nd him. Through his lite he main
med the apprentice system, now so q,
rare in this country, and to- y,
" the firm has eighty indentured oi
$50 applicants are waiting I'll
come in. Henry Disston put his les
vn sons in the shops. Hamilton, the al
tive head o. the firm, served seven CO
cars before he was taken into the to
Albert H., now de-
ased, Horace c., William and Jacob 6,